‘Tis The Season for Baking!

I love the holiday season. It’s magical, colorful, full of traditions and, best of all, full of good food. This year was interesting as we spent our first Christmas at home, without visiting our families since we moved a bit too far to make it work (at least for this year). Since I knew it wouldn’t be the usual festivities, I had to compensate somehow…so I baked. A lot. I sent goodie boxes to a few family members…and ate the rest. 🙂

So here is a look at the different sweet treats I made this year:

White and dark chocolate bark with crushed candy cane (original recipe by Ricardo Cuisine)Sucre à la crème (sugar fudge), a Quebec classic. (Original recipe from Recettes du Québec)Making homemade marshmallows is such a breeze with a stand-in mixer! The first year I made it, I burned myself and ended up with sticky syrup all over the kitchen as I had to use a hand mixer! It’s been so much easier with the Kitchen-Aid!Peppermint Marshmallows…nothing like the store-bought stuff. I’ve made vanilla and maple in the past so I tried peppermint to switch things up this year. (Original recipe by Denver Bargains)Chocolate and coconut macaroons. It is very dangerous for me to know how easy these were to make. (Original recipe by Food Network)Last Christmas, I participated in the Reddit Secret Santa gift exchange and received a re-edition of the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book. I finally tested out on of the recipes!Vermont Maple Jumble Cookies from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book. Easiest and most delicious cookies. I might be bias because of the maple aspect but they really were good!Bacon Maple Shortbread Cookies from Closet Cooking.Thelma’s Rum Cake! My wonderful elderly neighbor from Virginia was famous in town for her rum cake. She would bring one to her doctor at least once a year, had it requested by many of her church friends and gave me several slices…and even a couple of full cakes! She was kind enough to share her recipe, right before we moved.I packaged the cakes with much pride, keeping Thelma in mind. Gotta make my dear friend proud!Pretzel and chips blondies by the Food NetworkOn Christmas Eve, I felt like baking some more and remembered I had ninja cookie cutters…so I pulled out the Betty Crocker Cooky Book once more and made a batch of gingerbread cookies from scratch. At the beginning of December, I bought reindeer cookie decorations (eyes, bows, antlers…). Since I didn’t get a chance to make reindeer cookies (i.e. I completely forgot), I decided to use them on the ninjabread cookies for maximum giggles.